Well, between all the writing on my book I'm busy with - I've reached page 250 this week, and about 58.000 words, I've also submitted my short story to the Wet Ink competition last week.
I'll hear more in January...
Thursday, September 6, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
Finished story - Letter to the editor
I finished my writing course, and now my short story as well. I can't publish it here, because this means that I wouldn't be able to send it in for publication or a competition. But I'm quite happy with the result.
And with the writing group we started with a group of die-hards at the end of our course.
The last thing to do now is writing a letter to an editor. Here are some useful links to find out what such a letter involves. It's a bit like writing a cover letter for a job application - yuk.
http://www.write-and-publish-fiction.com/fiction-query-letter.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2331129_write-cover-letter-publisher.html
http://www.charlottedillon.com/query.html
http://linenpressbooks.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/introductory-letter-to-a-publisher/
And with the writing group we started with a group of die-hards at the end of our course.
The last thing to do now is writing a letter to an editor. Here are some useful links to find out what such a letter involves. It's a bit like writing a cover letter for a job application - yuk.
http://www.write-and-publish-fiction.com/fiction-query-letter.html
http://www.ehow.com/how_2331129_write-cover-letter-publisher.html
http://www.charlottedillon.com/query.html
http://linenpressbooks.wordpress.com/2010/04/17/introductory-letter-to-a-publisher/
Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Short Story Sample (opening and sample of 400 words)
The sky was grey and heavy. It wouldn't be long before more snow would
come, he could feel it. He had been driving for three hours straight, it was
time to stop and stretch his legs. He needed some fresh air to think. Today he
had seen glimpses of new opportunities and to his own surprise he felt
energised and ready to explore these further.
He drove a little faster, eager to leave the highway to find a quiet spot and get out of the car. A few big snowflakes hit the windscreen. It was winter after all, but he liked it. It was the season where you could disappear and be left alone. That was exactly what he'd needed a couple of months ago to get his act back together after a lot of things in his life turned nasty for him.
One day almost eighteen months ago, his wife decided she had enough of him and left. She had packed her bag, left her keys on the dining table and disappeared out of his life. And he thought he was happily married; he hadn’t seen this one coming.
Well, if only she’d just disappeared. But she came back with a lawyer and demanded everything he possessed and more. He got his own lawyer, fought back, thought of giving up this pointless battle more often than not, and when it was all over and both parties were more or less bankrupt he just needed to get out of there and leave.
In a very uncharacteristic move he resigned from his job, took his belongings -including his cat without tail - and rented a cottage in a remote location in North-Eastern Denmark.
The cottage was great. From the veranda at the back the view over the lake was just spectacular. He spent hours just sitting on the veranda, staring into the distance, stroking the cat on his lap - who seemed pleasantly surprised by all the attention – and doing nothing much.
He needed the headspace to think about what next. What did he want with his life? It had taken a quite unexpected turn and he didn’t feel ready for anything.
But then, two weeks ago there was
this flyer in his letterbox, about a careers expo. It caught his attention,
which was unusual, as nothing had interested him much lately. Maybe his sub-conscious mind had been working
hard during these months in isolation?
Out of the blue, he decided to go. He didn’t know what he was going to find there, but that wasn’t important. So early this morning, he got into his car, drove the two hours to Kopenhagen and almost drowned in the waterfall of impressions at the Convention Centre.
He collected tons of brochures, dvd’s and goodies about courses he didn’t know they existed and jobs he’d never even heard of. Educational Technology? Earthquake Damage Assessor? Digital Media Developer? Really?
Monday, April 30, 2012
Closing paragraph (150 words)
He was thinking of a glass of dark-red Shiraz, accompanied by a beautiful blue cheese. His neighbour down the road made a great selection of cheeses, it was certainly one of her blue mould soft cheeses he pictured.
He had no idea why he thought of food, rather than thinking of ways to get out of this peculiar situation. It must be the pain playing tricks with his brain. He was certain he smelled the wine, could almost touch that cheese, right in this moment, trapped in the car and pinned to his seat by this elephant on his chest.
Strange, he thought, that when you are about to step out of this world, nothing seems important anymore. Nothing.
It was now completely dark in the car. Very quiet. Still. The snow covered everything. Through his pain he suddenly realised he was a happy man.
- Evelyn
He had no idea why he thought of food, rather than thinking of ways to get out of this peculiar situation. It must be the pain playing tricks with his brain. He was certain he smelled the wine, could almost touch that cheese, right in this moment, trapped in the car and pinned to his seat by this elephant on his chest.
Strange, he thought, that when you are about to step out of this world, nothing seems important anymore. Nothing.
It was now completely dark in the car. Very quiet. Still. The snow covered everything. Through his pain he suddenly realised he was a happy man.
- Evelyn
Sunday, April 15, 2012
Opening paragraph (up to 150 words)
The sky was grey and heavy. It wouldn't be long before more snow would come, he could feel it. He had been driving for three hours straight, it was time to stop and stretch his legs. He needed some fresh air to think. Today he had seen glimpses of new opportunities and to his own surprise he felt energised and ready to explore these further.
He drove a little faster, eager to leave the highway to find a quiet spot and get out of the car. A few big snowflakes hit the windscreen. It was winter after all, but he liked it. It was the season where you could disappear and be left alone. That was exactly what he'd needed a couple of months ago to get his act back together after a lot of things in his life turned nasty for him. He'd reacted with some uncharacteristic actions, of which the sudden resignation from his job and the move to this remote area were undoubtedly the most liberating.
- Evelyn
He drove a little faster, eager to leave the highway to find a quiet spot and get out of the car. A few big snowflakes hit the windscreen. It was winter after all, but he liked it. It was the season where you could disappear and be left alone. That was exactly what he'd needed a couple of months ago to get his act back together after a lot of things in his life turned nasty for him. He'd reacted with some uncharacteristic actions, of which the sudden resignation from his job and the move to this remote area were undoubtedly the most liberating.
- Evelyn
Thursday, April 12, 2012
10 crazy book covers
(Source: Flavorwire.com)
Recently, we found out about a cookbook that you can actually eat after you’re done reading the recipes inside, which to us sounds pretty much like the best idea ever. Inspired by this elegant and — let’s face it — kind of crazy book, we went hunting for other wildly unusual book designs, from the edible to the mechanical to the technically alive. True, we mostly think all books are little objets d’art, but these go above and beyond the normal standards, each one an innovative and interesting piece of design as well as a functioning book. Click through to check out our gallery of some of the most crazy design ever to be applied to books, and let us know if we missed any cool ones in the comments!
A special edition edible cookbook from German design firm Korefe and Gerstenberg Publishing, the recipes are printed on fresh pasta pages that can be baked into a delicious lasagna.
The Mirror Book, by John Christie and Ron King, and published by Circle Press in 1985, is exactly what it sounds like. It comes complete with a pair of white gloves for smudge-free handling, and it’s meant to be a book about self-discovery: “as one turns the pages, hands are reflected, and on looking closely, our own faces. In the act of turning, the self-image becomes distorted. Here the book is the entrance key to a world of self-contemplation, and, potentially, self-knowledge.”
While it might not look all that out of the ordinary, the first edition cover of We’re Getting On by James Kaelan is made out of birch seed paper — so when you’re finished reading it, you can plant it and make a tree.
Speaking of edible books, Design Criminals is another tome you can nibble — only this one is an art book made entirely out of sugar and printed with vegetable ink. The book won designer Andreas Pohancenik a nomination for the prestigious Brit Insurance Design Awards. Check out a making-of video here.
A glow-in-the-dark book by Croatian designers Bruketa&Žinić that can only be identified at night — in the light, it looks like a plain white journal. Read more here.
Even though these books were only distributed as a direct marketing idea to promote the movie The Jungle Book 2 in Spain, we think they’re pretty phenomenal. We wonder what’s inside.
The Mechanical Word is a five volume series of mechanical books designed by Karen Bleitz with poetry by Richard Price. Readers turn the cranks to interact with the poems and “reveal the forces hidden within the constructs of communication.”
Coffee Stains by Martha Hayden is a book about the health benefits of coffee — and it’s made out of coffee residue. How appropriate.
This edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Imp of the Perverse,” designed by Helen Friel, must be destroyed to be properly read. Friel explains, “‘The Imp of the Perverse’ discusses the voice inside all of us that makes us to do things we know we shouldn’t do. Each page is perforated in a grid system with sections of the text missing. Readers must follow the simple instructions to tear and fold specific sections to reveal the missing text. Books are usually precious objects and the destruction is engineered to give the reader conflicting feelings, do they keep the book in it’s perfect untorn form? Or give into the imp and enjoy tearing it apart?”
Each edition of Richard Long’s Nile (Papers of River Muds) is made from the mud of the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Rhine, the Guatiquia, the Huang He, the Hudson, the Nairobi, and other rivers, each page a little different depending on where it was collected.
Recently, we found out about a cookbook that you can actually eat after you’re done reading the recipes inside, which to us sounds pretty much like the best idea ever. Inspired by this elegant and — let’s face it — kind of crazy book, we went hunting for other wildly unusual book designs, from the edible to the mechanical to the technically alive. True, we mostly think all books are little objets d’art, but these go above and beyond the normal standards, each one an innovative and interesting piece of design as well as a functioning book. Click through to check out our gallery of some of the most crazy design ever to be applied to books, and let us know if we missed any cool ones in the comments!
A special edition edible cookbook from German design firm Korefe and Gerstenberg Publishing, the recipes are printed on fresh pasta pages that can be baked into a delicious lasagna.
The Mirror Book, by John Christie and Ron King, and published by Circle Press in 1985, is exactly what it sounds like. It comes complete with a pair of white gloves for smudge-free handling, and it’s meant to be a book about self-discovery: “as one turns the pages, hands are reflected, and on looking closely, our own faces. In the act of turning, the self-image becomes distorted. Here the book is the entrance key to a world of self-contemplation, and, potentially, self-knowledge.”
While it might not look all that out of the ordinary, the first edition cover of We’re Getting On by James Kaelan is made out of birch seed paper — so when you’re finished reading it, you can plant it and make a tree.
Speaking of edible books, Design Criminals is another tome you can nibble — only this one is an art book made entirely out of sugar and printed with vegetable ink. The book won designer Andreas Pohancenik a nomination for the prestigious Brit Insurance Design Awards. Check out a making-of video here.
A glow-in-the-dark book by Croatian designers Bruketa&Žinić that can only be identified at night — in the light, it looks like a plain white journal. Read more here.
Even though these books were only distributed as a direct marketing idea to promote the movie The Jungle Book 2 in Spain, we think they’re pretty phenomenal. We wonder what’s inside.
The Mechanical Word is a five volume series of mechanical books designed by Karen Bleitz with poetry by Richard Price. Readers turn the cranks to interact with the poems and “reveal the forces hidden within the constructs of communication.”
Coffee Stains by Martha Hayden is a book about the health benefits of coffee — and it’s made out of coffee residue. How appropriate.
This edition of Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Imp of the Perverse,” designed by Helen Friel, must be destroyed to be properly read. Friel explains, “‘The Imp of the Perverse’ discusses the voice inside all of us that makes us to do things we know we shouldn’t do. Each page is perforated in a grid system with sections of the text missing. Readers must follow the simple instructions to tear and fold specific sections to reveal the missing text. Books are usually precious objects and the destruction is engineered to give the reader conflicting feelings, do they keep the book in it’s perfect untorn form? Or give into the imp and enjoy tearing it apart?”
Each edition of Richard Long’s Nile (Papers of River Muds) is made from the mud of the Mississippi, the Amazon, the Rhine, the Guatiquia, the Huang He, the Hudson, the Nairobi, and other rivers, each page a little different depending on where it was collected.
5 Great movies about writing
(Source: bookriot.com)
The other night I slammed the brakes on a film—something I rarely do, but this one managed to be both florid and boring, like a PT Cruiser. It was Nora, a biopic of James Joyce. Even Ewan McGregor couldn’t save it, and he’s got plenty of lit-flicks to his name, from Pillow Book to Miss Potter.
Filming a writer’s working life is admittedly a tall order. Some famous writers may have throbbingly dramatic personal lives (when are we going to get Norman Mailer stabbing his wife?), but the work itself, what makes them great, is hardly cinematic. Scribbling with a pen, tapping at a keyboard, scratching things out, hitting a backspace key, hour after day after year… not exactly a feast for the peepers.
We’ve been debating whether or not books are particularly good fodder for film adaptations. But I also wonder whether great movies can be made about writing itself, one peculiarly mental art form translated to a visual medium. And not just a protagonist who’s a writer (cue the shaggily endearing crank à la Wonder Boys), but showing an author at work, conveying the euphoria of a good writing day or the frustration and sweaty palms of writer’s block.
Below are a few contenders. How about you? What would you recommend?
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Based on Jean-Dominique Bauby’s memoir, this depicts one of the toughest writing conditions imaginable. Bauby (played by Mathieu Amalric) suffers a stroke that leaves him “locked in” and only able to communicate by blinking his left eyelid. He and his nurses develop a method of writing, where every single letter feels like a triumph.
Capote
A juicy moral dilemma about a true-crime book, jailhouse interviews, manipulation, and ambition… For all the cold-blooded murder, one of the most chilling moments is when Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) says to killer Perry Smith, “there is not a word or a sentence or a concept that you can illuminate for me. There is one singular reason I keep coming here.”
Barton Fink
Was there ever a more stifling, clammy, skin-crawlingly awful room in which to get writer’s block? Extra points for John Turturro’s bug-eyed expression, mixing fear and pride, when he says “I’m a writer!”
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
Beyond the elbow-throwing at the Round Table, there are some great scenes of Dorothy Parker (Jennifer Jason Leigh) at the New Yorker offices, as when she wears a sign around her neck showing her weekly salary, since no one was allowed to speak about their paychecks. Better yet are her confrontations with the typewriter, banging out “please god, let me write like a man.”
Quills
You’ve gotta give the Marquis de Sade (played by Geoffrey Rush) credit: Though locked in an insane asylum, he smuggles out manuscripts, writes on clothing in blood, and even daubs words on the walls of his cell with his own poo.
The other night I slammed the brakes on a film—something I rarely do, but this one managed to be both florid and boring, like a PT Cruiser. It was Nora, a biopic of James Joyce. Even Ewan McGregor couldn’t save it, and he’s got plenty of lit-flicks to his name, from Pillow Book to Miss Potter.
Filming a writer’s working life is admittedly a tall order. Some famous writers may have throbbingly dramatic personal lives (when are we going to get Norman Mailer stabbing his wife?), but the work itself, what makes them great, is hardly cinematic. Scribbling with a pen, tapping at a keyboard, scratching things out, hitting a backspace key, hour after day after year… not exactly a feast for the peepers.
We’ve been debating whether or not books are particularly good fodder for film adaptations. But I also wonder whether great movies can be made about writing itself, one peculiarly mental art form translated to a visual medium. And not just a protagonist who’s a writer (cue the shaggily endearing crank à la Wonder Boys), but showing an author at work, conveying the euphoria of a good writing day or the frustration and sweaty palms of writer’s block.
Below are a few contenders. How about you? What would you recommend?
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Based on Jean-Dominique Bauby’s memoir, this depicts one of the toughest writing conditions imaginable. Bauby (played by Mathieu Amalric) suffers a stroke that leaves him “locked in” and only able to communicate by blinking his left eyelid. He and his nurses develop a method of writing, where every single letter feels like a triumph.
Capote
A juicy moral dilemma about a true-crime book, jailhouse interviews, manipulation, and ambition… For all the cold-blooded murder, one of the most chilling moments is when Capote (Philip Seymour Hoffman) says to killer Perry Smith, “there is not a word or a sentence or a concept that you can illuminate for me. There is one singular reason I keep coming here.”
Barton Fink
Was there ever a more stifling, clammy, skin-crawlingly awful room in which to get writer’s block? Extra points for John Turturro’s bug-eyed expression, mixing fear and pride, when he says “I’m a writer!”
Mrs. Parker and the Vicious Circle
Beyond the elbow-throwing at the Round Table, there are some great scenes of Dorothy Parker (Jennifer Jason Leigh) at the New Yorker offices, as when she wears a sign around her neck showing her weekly salary, since no one was allowed to speak about their paychecks. Better yet are her confrontations with the typewriter, banging out “please god, let me write like a man.”
Quills
You’ve gotta give the Marquis de Sade (played by Geoffrey Rush) credit: Though locked in an insane asylum, he smuggles out manuscripts, writes on clothing in blood, and even daubs words on the walls of his cell with his own poo.
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